Frank Skinner writes radio comedy about quarrelling couple

Frank Skinner has written a new comedy-drama for Radio 4, based on a bickering couple .

He will star alongside The IT Crowd’s Katherine Parkinson in the four-part series Don’t Start. Each week the series focusses on a different argument – based on such trivial flashpoints as a text from a friend, a trilby or a bad night’s sleep – with a quickfire exchange of banter between the couple, Neil and Kim.

Skinner said: ‘I've spent an unhealthy percentage of all my relationships in argument mode. Sometimes it's simply destructive but, on other occasions, it can be like an elaborate verbal dance.

‘One of the characters in Don't Start talks about finding “poetry amidst the bile”. Radio loves language and that gives me licence to explore a style of comedy that loves language too.

‘I'm a fan of those Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn films when their bickering is finely-crafted, funny, and yet somehow still very real. That's what I've tried to achieve with Don't Start.’

The series starts at 11pm on October 5.

Published: 13 Sep 2011